"It's farming, without the smell."

If I had to choose to be stuck on an island with only one game, this would be the game I would choose. The only problem would be running out of power. The Harvest Moon franchise is one of the best and most unique out there. Back in the humble SNES days, the first Harvest Moon game was introduced. After SNES, Harvest Moon hit GameBoy with a couple of games. After that Harvest moon made a big impact on the Nintendo 64. Out of all the Harvest Moon games, this one is the most advanced. Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral town will be a game you’ll play until the cows come home (literally).

Story: 8/10

The story is the same as many of the other games, you inherit a farm from a friend who has recently passed away. The only way to save the farm is to ship crops and raise various animals to make money. As far as Harvest Moon games go this is pretty much the story for the rest of the series too, The saving grace was the fact that you interact with the townspeople and befriend many of them. The events in the story always add a nice touch. The townspeople always have something unique to say which really helps you get into the story.

Graphics: 9/10

The graphics are amazing in this game, the first time I saw them I was amazed. The game feels like a cartoon game, which is a perfect way to view it. The color’s are a breath of fresh air from other games which I won’t mention. The animation is smooth and flawless, which is a must for any game. This is one of the best looking games I have ever seen for the GBA. A lot of the games that come out for the GBA look ugly and blotchy, not this game! The game couldn’t have done much better for the graphics department.

Sound: 7/10

What an improvement off of past games, this soundtrack you can actually listen to! I’m not saying that this game has the best sound ever made, but again for GBA this is a nice improvement. Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town offers a variety of music and sound effects that sound good and happy. Compared to the other Harvest moon games, Friends of Mineral Town blew away the competition. The music still can get annoying, but not for a while.

Game play: 10/10

This is where the game shines, there is many crops which you can grow and sell. The crops each have a different look as well as a different selling price. In fact you can never really get bored of the crops. There are also Animals which you can raise to make better products. Aside from the crops and animals, there are a variety of festivals and events (many of which you can win some sort of prize at). If you get bored of doing stuff like this, you could always woo over a woman or mine for some minerals. There are a number of secrets for you to discover in the course of the game. There are a million of things for you to do in this game, so it never gets boring.

Replay value: 10/10

You can actually play this game hundreds of times, there is a lot of things you can do differently, like wooing over a different woman, or maybe growing different crops. Personally, every time I restart this game it is a new experience. This is a game made for replaying.

Final Score: 9/10

This game is amazing! I had to write a review on how great this game is. If you’re a fan of the Harvest Moon series, then this game is for you. If you’ve never played Harvest moon before then you should play this game anyway, it is worth it.